InvaCost, a public database of the economic costs of biological invasions worldwide

Abstract

Biological invasions are responsible for tremendous impacts globally, including huge economic losses and management expenditures. Efficiently mitigating this major driver of global change requires the improvement of public awareness and policy regarding its substantial impacts on our socio-ecosystems. One option to contribute to this overall objective is to inform people on the economic costs linked to these impacts; however, until now, a reliable synthesis of invasion costs has never been produced at a global scale. Here, we introduce InvaCost as the most up-to-date, comprehensive, harmonised and robust compilation and description of economic cost estimates associated with biological invasions worldwide. We have developed a systematic, standardised methodology to collect information from peer-reviewed articles and grey literature, while ensuring data validity and method repeatability for further transparent inputs. Our manuscript presents the methodology and tools used to build and populate this living and publicly available database. InvaCost provides an essential basis (2419 cost estimates currently compiled) for worldwide research, management efforts and, ultimately, for data-driven and evidence-based policymaking.

Fig. 1

General outline of the different construction steps of InvaCost. * Relevant materials were those (i) readable by the review team (i.e. written in English or French) for ensuring reliable assessment, (ii) containing at least one cost estimate (iii) exclusively associated with (at least one) invasive species. This assessment was based on the progressive analysis of titles, abstracts and keywords. Materials whose abstracts were not accessible were conservatively considered as relevant for further full-text analysis. ** Cited references were materials not gathered with our literature search process, but mentioned as original references in the relevant materials (initially collected) we analysed when seeking for cost estimates. Currently, 484 cited references are referenced in InvaCost.

Fig. 2

Decision tree approach for assessing the reliability of the method used for estimating each cost. The colour of the boxes indicates which decision was taken: green when material was deemed as of high reliability, red when material was deemed as of low reliability, blue when taking any decision needs further investigation. The intended purpose of this process was not to evaluate the quality, relevance or realism of the studies performed for providing cost estimates, but rather to assess if the methodology (i) has been reviewed and validated by peers or experts prior any publication, or (ii) if not, whether this methodology was clearly stated and demonstrated.